After a short winter respite, Duke’s men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their spring seasons last Saturday. Both sets of Blue Devils traveled to Hawai’i to take on the Rainbow Warriors.
And the first matches of 2011 were very successful, with the two Duke teams combining to sweep all six doubles matches played and win 11 of the 12 singles matches.
The No. 14 Duke men’s team won all but two sets on its way to a dominant victory over No. 37 Hawai’i.
“This was the perfect way to start the season,” men’s head coach Ramsey Smith told the team’s website. “We have been practicing hard all week, and played well today. The freshmen were particularly impressive in their dual match debut. [Assistant coach] Jonathan (Stokke) and I are very excited about this spring season.”
The men’s team was led by strong efforts from No. 9 Henrique Cunha, a sophomore, and No. 5 Reid Carleton, whose strong performance in the fall earned him a spot on the USA team for the Master ‘U international tournament in France.
The No. 7 women’s team was also successful in shaking off the winter rust, winning five of its six singles matches. But even though the Blue Devils scored well, head coach Jamie Ashworth thought there was still room for improvement.
“I thought we competed well and I thought we didn’t hit the ball well considering this was the first matches for some of the girls in eight weeks,” Ashworth told the team’s website. “We are glad to grab the first win of the season. It was good for everyone to get the first matches out of the way and it gives us some things to work on.”
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